Planer type one-way drive devices are well known in the art. In particular, attention is directed to a planer type one-way drive device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,978 (Pires), which is incorporated herein by reference. This patent is owned by the assignee of the present application and is under license to another company which manufactures and sells one-way drive devices using the principles described in the '978 patent.
Briefly summarizing the one-way drive device disclosed in the '978 patent, it is shown including what the patent refers to as a strut plate and a receptor plate positioned in confronting relationship to one another. The corresponding plates disclosed herein are referred to as pocket and notch plates, respectively. The strut plate in this prior art patent includes a series of circumferentially spaced pockets, each of which receives a biasing spring and a strut movable within the pocket between the spring biased position extending partially outside the pocket and a forced position located entirely within the pocket, as described in the patent. The receptor plate also includes a series of circumferentially spaced pockets which serve to engage the struts under specific conditions of operation of the one-way drive device, as described in the patent. In the present application, the corresponding pockets are referred to as notches rather than pockets. For additional structural and functional details, reference is made to the '978 patent.
An actual commercial embodiment presently being manufactured and sold by the licensee mentioned above includes an integrally molded pocket plate having an outwardly projecting, circumferential side wall designed to define a chamber, more or less, for receiving an integrally molded notch plate. As will be seen hereinafter, the one-way drive device disclosed and claimed herein provides for an improved device, both structurally and the way in which it is manufactured and assembled.